AstraZeneca plc is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s fifth-largest pharmaceutical company measured by 2009 prescription drug sales (after Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, and GlaxoSmithKline) and has operations in over 100 countries, including research facilities in Södertälje, Sweden.

Like every pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca conducts experiments on animals. According to AstraZeneca’s own website, in 2011 AstraZeneca has used approximately 398,000 animals, including those used by external contract research organisations on their behalf. Approximately 76% (302,480) were rodents, 22% (87,560) were fish and the remaining 2% (7,960) included chickens, dogs, rabbits, ferrets, primates, pigs, goats and sheep.In 2010, AstraZeneca “used” 429,000 animals and in 2009, 410,000 animals were “used” for the purpose of testings and experiments.

In February 2012, Swedish newspapersannounced that Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca is closing its research facilities in Södertälje, south of Stockholm, as part of a major restructuring, resulting in the loss of around 1,000 Swedish jobs. Over the past two years, the big pharmaceutical giant divested much of its operations in Sweden and this has also affected their laboratory facilities andexperimental animalactivities.

Since then, the future of the Beagles that are currently still being held in their kennels outsideÖrkelljunga, is uncertain given that the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has consistently refused to give the dogs a chance of a new life, by releasing them into the care of skilled and engaged people who have offered to adopt them.

By signing our petition, the message that you can read below, will instantly be sent to the decision makers at AstraZeneca.

Subject: Please set the Beagles free!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have learned from the Swedish organisation Animal Rights Alliance, through their campaign “Låt Astrahundarna leva!” that the future of the experimental dogs that are currently still being held in your kennel in Rååhöjdens, outside Örkelljunga, is uncertain, given that you have consistently refused to give the dogs a chance of a new life by releasing them into the care of skilled and engaged people who have offered to adopt them.

We have also learned that – after reconsideration – you have scrapped your plans to kill these unfortunate dogs who were born into a life of over stimulation, abuse and exploitation, and that you intend to sell them to painful animal experiments in the UK instead.

We beg you to give these dogs THE chance of their life. Please set them free and give them in the care of the good people who have offered to adopt them so that they can experience the joy of having a loving family – something they have been deprived of their entire life.

Although unwillingly, these poor unfortunate souls have served you loyally until now. Please have mercy on them and set them free. They have suffered enough in your laboratories at the hands of your scientists; please let them live out the rest of their lives in peace, surrounded by the love of the caring families that await them.

The world is watching and is following your company’s decision in this matter. Please make the humane choice and show the world that you are capable of compassion, too.

We thank very much you in advance and we wish you, your loved ones, and the entire staff at AstraZeneca a very happy New Year.

In and of itself, that story is hardly unique. What causes it to stand out from the typical story is the gravity of the neglect and the leniency of the punishment.

On Thursday, the dog owner, Douglas Pattison, was fined $250 for the death of a 10-year-old Shih Tzu named Tiny that had been in his care (if care is the right word). Pattison was also barred from owning another pet for three years.

But it is the nature of Tiny’s death, not to mention his final days on earth, that is compelling. In August, the dog was found barely alive and wandering the streets of the city. It is unclear whether Pattison had turned the tiny dog out, but according to the article, its “fur was so matted and filthy that maggot-infested abscesses had developed on the dog’s skin.” In addition:

It also had extensive dental disease and was so severely dehydrated that internal organs were affected.

Veterinarians tried to save the little pooch. They treated Tiny for severe skin abscesses and other ailments. But he was so ill that they had no alternative but to euthanize him three months later.

Here’s the kicker. Shih Tzus are expensive dogs. And they must be bought since they never turn up in shelters. With some Shih Tzus selling for over $1,000, Pattison’s fine was roughly one fourth the cost assigned to the dog’s life.

What is more is that in three years time, he can walk into a pet store and buy another dog to neglect.

Dogs deserve better. And people like Douglas Pattison deserve much, much worse.

The accused, Bhola, reportedly butchered one of the limbs of the tiger and took it away, telling his fellow poachers that he would go home, cook and eat the meat. The shocking fact has come up during interrogation of the poachers by theforest authorities.

Five accused who were arrested by the forest staff were on Tuesday produced in the court which remanded them to the custody of the forest department.

The tiger hide was recovered by the forest staff dumped near a culvert. While the skin was recovered, other parts of the body including its kidney, liver and intestine were also missing. Autopsy revealed that one of its hind limb was cut off with a sharp edged weapon, while soft organs were consumed by predators.

Bhola and his two accomplices Thakurudeen and Dasuare still at large. Efforts are on to arrest them, said R P S Chouhan, conservator of forest (CF) Umaria. We are hopeful about recovering the tiger nails which the accused had cut and taken away, he said.

Five persons belonging toPalia tribal community, Darohi village (Umeria) were arrested for electrocuting the tiger near Bandhavgarh reserve on Sunday night – a few hours after its skinned carcass was found near Ghunghuti range. The accused were identified asRam Singh, 39, Ram Milan, 30, Rajan, 24, Sukh Sen, 32, and Raju 28. The tiger skin buried in the jungle, using salt as preservative, was recovered from them.

During interrogation, accused – Ram Milan – told forest officials that Bhola, who lured them to skin the tiger, took away the limb, for eating. He maintained that the trap was laid for wild boars, but the tiger fell into it accidentally. The tiger got killed on the intervening night of December 7 and 8.

Panicked poachers dumped the tiger body into a culvert and went back to their village. Later in the morning they discussed the matter with Bhola and other relatives. And subsequently they agreed to revisit the spot to collect its skin, bones, nails and meat.

The tiger was skinned on the intervening night of December 8 and 9.

Bhola’s attempts to extract teeth of the tiger by hitting it with axe failed, after two of the canine teeth’s broke into pieces, making the set of teeth redundant, Ram Milan told interrogators.

As his share in the kill, Bhola took away the hind limb for consumption along with three nails, said officials quoting revelations made by the arrested poachers.

The following video is very informative & well worth watching, it explains the problems faced by the tigers & the villagers that are encroaching on the tigers habitat. However there are some scenes of recent tiger kills; viewer discretion advised

GREELEY — A Weld District judge sentenced a 73-year-old Firestone man to 9 1/2 years in prison for the 2011 fatal poisonings of his neighbor’s two dogs and subsequent intimidation of a witness in the case.

Joseph Losinski appears for sentencing on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, at Weld County District Court in Greeley

Joseph Losinski pleaded guilty to one count of felony aggravated cruelty to animals and one count of intimidating a victim or witness, also a felony, in October. Weld District Judge Todd Taylor said Losinski failed to take responsibility for the crimes and would be a risk to the community if not incarcerated.

The sentence came after the judge listened to arguments that Losinski had so terrorized his neighbors in Firestone that many armed themselves and had installed security cameras.

“This offense seemed to be motivated by cruelty and some sort of sadistic pleasure in causing harm to the dogs and ultimately to their owners, and that is a grave offense,” Taylor said. “That hurts people, that hurts the community, and it is as real as any other crime.”

Losinski fed strychnine-laced meatballs to his neighbors’ dogs — Dozer Boy, a chocolate Labrador; and Kyera, a German shepherd — on Aug. 8, 2011, while they were in their own backyard, according to police reports. Both dogs died. Police reported that the dogs were found about 20 minutes after they had been allowed outside at the home on the 500 block of Fifth Street. Losinski and his neighbors share a fence line.

Losinski used an Alford plea in the case, which means he acknowledged that there was enough evidence to convict him at trial but that he maintained his innocence, according to Weld CountyDistrict Attorney spokesman Heath Montgomery. The Alford plea is still a guilty plea, he noted.

Losinski and his wife moved to Firestone from Minnesota a few months before Travis and Tesla Dougherty’s dogs were poisoned. The couple had moved in next door only two weeks prior to their dogs’ deaths.

Photos of the crime scene shown in court showed that the dogs died with their muzzles nestled close.

From left: Dog owners Travis and Tesla Dougherty fight to hold back their emotions while listening to statements at the Joseph Losinski sentencing, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, at Weld County District Court in Greeley

Tesla Dougherty said she found the dogs just before Kyera died. She said the dog tried to comfort her even as she died.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Larson said he is client did not kill the dogs and took the plea agreement only to put the case behind him. He said Losinski suffered from cancer and that his wife is entirely dependent on him.

“To incarcerate Mr. Losinski would surely be a death sentence in this case,” he told the judge.

Taylor sentenced Losinski to 18 months in prison for felony aggravated animal cruelty and eight years for felony intimidation of a witness. Taylor said the sentences are to run consecutively because the crimes were distinct and involved different victims.

Court records from 2010 show that a restraining order was filed against Losinski by one of his neighbors in Minnesota. The neighbor told police that Losinski once told him that he used poisoned meat to kill animals on his property. The neighbor also said his cat went missing shortly after he filed harassment charges.

Prosecutor Jennifer Hill argued that Losinski was terrorizing his Firestone neighbors just as his former Minnesota neighbors said he terrorized them. His former neighbors believed he poisoned animals and tossed the bodies of slaughtered animals in their yards after disputes. She said investigators found Internet postings in which Losinski offered instructions on poisoning animals and how to fake innocence.

Taylor said he did not have much hope for Losinski rehabilitating.

Losinski also sent a threatening letter to a neighbor of the Doughertys who was a witness in the case, according to the Weld County District Attorney’s Office

According to two members of a Kansas City-based jazz band, who played at the Beta Theta Pi house during a winter formal on Friday night, fraternity members tossed a turkey around and handled it “like a rag doll,” until the animal died.

“Someone threw it like a football in the ballroom,” band member Chad Boydston said. “The turkey was running for its life — gobbling — and feathers were everywhere.”

Boydston and fellow band member Lisa McKenzie said they asked multiple times for the torture to stop.

“They said ‘No, it’s our turkey and we can do what we want’,” McKenzie said.

The band members guessed there were close to 200 people at the party and plenty of adults, yetnothing was done, according to Boydston.

“Out of all of these adults, including alumni, no one said anything,” he said.

McKenzie said she called police after seeing one fraternity member break the turkey’s neck on the front porch. Today the front steps to the house have feathers scattered about.

Lawrence police released a statement today about the case.

“On December 14, 2012 at 10:46pm officers from the Lawrence Police Department responded to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, 1425 Tennessee Street, in regards to a cruelty to animals situation. Officers determined the fraternity had a live turkey in a cage during a party at the house. The animal had allegedly been poked by individuals through the cage and heckled during the evening. At some point the turkey was freed from the cage. Witnesses report the animal being chased and abused by several individuals present at the party, seriously injuring the animal. One individual allegedly then killed the turkey, stating he did so to end its suffering.

Officers took statements from several individuals and prepared an offense report for Cruelty to Animals, case #02-12-15989. The case will be forwarded to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office for charging consideration once the investigation is complete.”

No one answered the door at the Beta house on Monday, students are on break. The national Beta chapter says it is aware of the allegations and is working with the local chapter and KU to find out what happened.

The university released a statement late Monday afternoon in response to calls for comment.

“A case of possible animal cruelty at a KU fraternity is under investigation by the Lawrence Police Department, the fraternity national chapter and the KU Interfraternity Council. The university expects anyone with information about this incident to cooperate fully. Behaviour such as that reported is reprehensible and is not what KU would expect from its students.”

No arrests have been made, the investigation is ongoing. Once it is finished it’s up to the prosecutor to determine if charges will be made.

On Tuesday, December 18, the national chapter of the Beta Theta Pi suspended the Kansas University chapter indefinitely.

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DUE TO THE NATURE OF THIS BLOG - SOME PICTURES & VIDEOS CAN & WILL BE VERY GRAPHIC - SO PLEASE, VIEW THIS BLOG AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

You can find out more about me & this blog by reading "ABOUT THIS BLOG" on the menu (when i finish it) lol

PLEASE NOTE.....
Not all of my posts will be current news, or even about animal abuse! I do like to share other animal news, uplifting stories or videos; some that are funny or just touch the heart!

If I have anything to say on any post, you will see it in bold blue writing. I try to remain a lady, but it's hard to contain my anger & emotions at the some of the stories I post; I don’t have a heart of stone, tears stain many articles I write!

Lastly, my apologies for any errors; I am learning whilst posting, so if you find anything that doesn't work or a broken link, sorry, I'm only human!!!!

ABOUT THESE POSTS

I would just like to make readers aware, that I search for stories on the internet; regards animal abuse etc. I copy stories etc. from the internet; assuming these stories are correct at time of publishing. Having said that, sometimes the press get it wrong! So I just want to add that at the time of me posting a news story, I presume all the facts seem present & correct.
Please note....all people mentioned in this blog, are presumed innocent, until proven otherwise, in a court of law.

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For anyone wishing to connect to me via my Facebook page...PLEASE NOTE, ONLY PEOPLE I ADD AS ANIMAL ADVOCATES CAN SEE MY WHOLE PAGE...I do this out of respect for those friends I have who do not wish to see graphic images, videos or links of animal abuse!
As 99% of my page is animal related; anyone not in the above group of friends; will only see a limited amount of posts!!
DUE TO ANIMAL HATERS...I WILL ONLY ADD PEOPLE WHO CAN PROVE WHO THEY ARE via Facebook, Wordpress, Twitter etc. & WHO HAVE A GENUINE INTEREST IN ANIMAL WELFARE... i.e. if your Facebook page has absolutely nothing to do with animals, I see no point in joining my page. My Facebook is solely for animal welfare, I am not interested in playing games etc. I don't mean to sound rude but I am not interested in the amount of friends I have, its the quality of those friends that count.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND REQUESTS FOR YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN. I do not want anyone to be upset by graphic images etc.
My aim is to educate & raise awareness to the horrors animals face, at the hands of humans, every day, around the world!!
We can not hope to achieve better laws, to protect animals, unless we unite as one, to speak up for those who are voiceless!!
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